I think I've decided on my first build of 2019, and after a year that mostly featured RW builds I'm starting out with a Whif.
The Tornado was considered by the USAF twice, first with Grumman as the US partner in the competition that led to the F-15E, and then later it was offered, and seriously considered as an F-4G Wild Weasel replacement, with Rockwell as the US partner. Final assembly would be at Rockwell's Palmdale plant to keep the production line going after the B-1 run. The ECR was going to be the platform the F-24 (several sources state this would be the US designation). Other sources I have found note that a fuselage extension for added fuel carriage would have been a feature.
My build is going to start with the Revell 1/48 F.3 as the base model, given its longer fuselage, and lets be honest, it just looks much better. The F.3s EW suite was reportedly and excellent basis for a SEAD platform (before the budget and infighting interfered the RAF briefly operated modified ALARM carrying EF.3s in the SEAD role).
The Rockwell proposal included a fairing on top of the fin for some kind of EW wizardry, and my plan is to sculpt that from Milliput. I'm also toying with the idea of reworking the intakes along the lines of the Tornado 2000 proposal that made the intakes more stealthy. I have a partially started Italeri F.3 in the stash, so I may experiment with that to see how it looks before doing any major work on the nice Revell kit. Time will tell whether it ends up being an early F-24A or a MLU F-24C with stealthy intakes.
The planned weapons fit is two AGM-88s on IDS pylons under the fuselage and two more on IDS outer pylons. Fuel on the inboard pylons and the twin AAM arrangement on the inner pylons will probably have Sidewinders on one pylon and some sort of ECM/Countermeasures on the other.
Pics to come as the build gets going...today has been a lazy day doing a little researching and sorting out ideas. Hopefully plastic starts getting cut and painted by the weekend.
Until then...a little something from Flight International in July 1989...
https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1989/1989%20-%202321.PDF